


Little Signs

by halfpastmonsoon



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Consent, First Kiss, Gen, Kisses, M/M, Reunions, consent freak Kanou is my sunshine, lots of kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 16:05:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14288511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfpastmonsoon/pseuds/halfpastmonsoon
Summary: Kanou and Mihashi feat. Kanou’s obsession with Mihashi’s comfortRated T for them passionate kisses





	Little Signs

It started really early, on a particularly quiet day. There were many such days between these two, mainly because Kanou was not exactly a talkative person – unless it was about a topic he knew a lot about, in which case you could hardly stop him, and Mihashi took a long time to form any coherent thoughts.

So often they would just sit in silence or play catch in silence.   
And neither ever minded that.  
Kanou suddenly got an urge, though, in this particular silence.   
He wasn’t sure what to do about it.

Since he was sitting on the opposite end of Mihashi’s bed from the owner himself, all it took to face his spaced-out figure from up close was moving a foot and a half to the right. He was now sitting cross-legged in front of Mihashi, who was now kind of confused but also curious.  
Kanou looked at his lips for a moment, before reaching his hand out to touch them gently. He could feel they were chapped against his fingertips. He shuddered and looked Mihashi straight into his eyes, an unspoken question in his own. May I? He should have probably said something, but the touch was enough. Mihashi seemed to understand him, because after a moment of silence, filled only with his cheeks getting noticeably redder (were Kanou’s this way, too? He wasn’t sure), he nodded slightly, and Kanou leaned forward, his fingers sliding onto Mihashi’s left cheek.

Mmm, yes, the lips were definitely chapped. He probably had a habit of biting them, too.

The kiss itself, because it was definitely a kiss, his first kiss and not something he just imagined, wasn’t unpleasant, though, there was nothing rough about it. Kanou felt Mihashi’s breath on his cheek while their lips were still together, not moving in any way, not deepening the kiss and not pulling away.  
They stayed like this for quite a long while (it seemed both like eternity and like half a second to Kanou at that time), until eventually Kanou pulled away, slowly, opening his eyes which were closed the entire time. His right hand was still on Mihashi’s cheek, and he touched his own with the other one.  
It was warm.  
Well, it made sense, he guessed.

After that, it turned into sort of a habit of his. A ritual. Something that just came automatically whenever he wanted to kiss Mihashi, which wasn’t all that often.  
He would sometimes touch Mihashi’s cheek or forehead with his middle and index finger, and that was the sign, one Mihashi never shook off, one that served as asking for consent without having to stutter out any words that would probably make things worse.

All this time, Mihashi’s thought on the subject was something along the lines of ‘Shuu-chan is a good person, and he wants to make sure I’m comfortable. I wonder…if he is comfortable, too. I should tell him it’s ok.’   
He never did, though.

The older they got, the rarer the instances of him using the signs were. Sometimes he touched a few spots in sequence – left cheek, right cheek, lips…his fingers rubbing against Mihashi’s soft skin while he ran them in a triangle on his face.  
The last time he did that before they drifted apart was before a practice game. Mihashi was going to play, and Kanou wished him good luck, but before he could run off, Kanou touched his right cheek, in the old familiar way.

Mihashi didn’t shake off that one, either.

Neither of them ever found out if anybody saw that ‘good luck’ kiss. It wasn’t important.

That was in the first year, though, and later they both were too focused on their development to think about affection. And later, when it was close to being over, Mihashi was too distant for Kanou to even consider the possibility of doing that again.  
Even when they said their goodbyes, which weren’t really goodbyes, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything, even touch his hand, and it bothered him but he also had other things to worry about.  
For a long time he still lived away from Mihashi, away in the sense that he was far away physically, and in the sense that he wasn’t in touch with him at all.

Until suddenly, he was back in the picture again. He still was far away, and that hurt him, because all he wanted was to be together with Mihashi again, just like he was as a child and a middle schooler, just like he thought he is supposed to be.  
They started texting, updating each other on their progress or lack thereof. It was never very personal, though, in spite of the fact Kanou was dying to talk about life outside of baseball. Talk about them, perhaps. Most of all, though, he wanted to meet up.

He wouldn’t admit he misses being able to touch Mihashi and see him and feel like he is with him, like they are together, in an innocent yet very deep way.

And at last it came, Mihashi invited him over for a few days, to hang out and talk about things.

And again Kanou felt happy and excited, again he felt like everything can be fine.

The first day of his visit was loud, full of conversations, full of pictures Mihashi would show him, full of stories to tell, and full of what made Kanou’s heart leap in his chest and caused a smile to appear on his face, that is, a bunch of ‘thank you’s, gratitude for his support, which was natural to him, effects of which made him happy and proud.

Mihashi never forgot Kanou was the only person who told him to not quit baseball.

That was helpful in recreating the feeling of safety and understanding between them.

Kanou noticed Mihashi gave off a different vibe now. He realised he will have to relearn parts of him. However close they were to being just like they were as kids, there were differences.  
And he was surely excited about these developments.  
There was one thing he had to check, though.

The instant Mihashi stopped talking, he put fingers on his lips, the same old gesture that was their ritual.

His heart was beating fast. What might the reaction be?

Mihashi looked at Kanou’s hand, cross-eyes and then back up at his face, but not into his eyes. He didn’t move at all for a while, before grabbing Kanou’s wrist and putting his hand away. Kanou’s heart skipped a beat. What…? But before he could get seriously worried, Mihashi’s lips were on his, warm, and still chapped.   
Some things never change.  
Kanou’s eyes were still wide open, so he got a great view of Mihashi’s face, eyes tightly shut, red cheeks, determined expression. Kanou blinked and eventually closed his eyes, too, wrapping his arms around the smaller boy’s waist.

It was definitely a different kiss from the childhood one.  
It was much more passionate, for one thing.  
Kanou felt Mihashi’s arms wrap around him, hands running up and down his spine.  
He was suddenly aware of how silent it was, everywhere around him.  
He leaned into the kiss, breathing in and out of his nose. That, Mihashi’s breathing, and soft creaking of the bed under them were the only sounds filling the air.

Subconsciously, his tongue entered Mihashi’s mouth.

The instant he noticed, though, he pulled away, covering his mouth, his face red.  
He looked over at Mihashi, who had a somewhat shocked expression on his face.  
‘Shuu…chan…is everything ok? Are you…hurt?’  
Kanou shook his head quickly. No, nothing was wrong.  
‘I just wasn’t sure if you’re okay with that, Ren. I never asked.’

He was looking away from Mihashi now, away and at the floor, until he felt a soft touch on his hands, taking them away from his face. Kanou looked at Mihashi, a bit surprised, met with an extremely serious expression. Unusually serious.  
They sat there like that, not moving and not saying anything, Kanou’s hands still held by the other’s.  
Eventually, Mihashi inhaled and spoke up.  
‘Shuu…go’ he gulped ‘I really…don’t mind. I…You don’t need to ask all the time, I’m…I’m fine with…this.’  
Before Kanou could respond, he continued.  
‘I…think you’ve been…too careful about this, Shuu-chan. I mean…it was good…you’re a very good person and…I’m really glad, but…’ He shuddered and Kanou felt his hands slightly shaking. ‘Please don’t think I…don’t want to…kiss you.’ His face turned red and he let go of Kanou’s hands, covering his face with his own.

Kanou sat there with his hands on his knees, speechless. He watched Mihashi and wondered what to do. He wasn’t used to such situations.  
‘Okay, Ren, but..’ He reached out to touch Mihashi’s hair soothingly ‘what am I supposed to do? Just uh…kiss you out of the blue?’  
Mihashi took his hands away from his face and thought about it for a moment.  
‘Um, I…You can still ask, that’s…really good, but, once we start, don’t keep asking, I guess. I will…tell you if something is…wrong.’  
Kanou nodded. He could get behind that.

Everything else aside, stopping every five seconds to ask would have been quite awkward.  
The idea was so silly he snorted, covering his mouth with his hand. Mihashi blinked in confusion, but giggled back at him.

Kanou leaned forward and kissed him on the neck, causing Mihashi to make a lot of embarrassing squeaking noises. Afterwards he proceeded to kiss his hands, his eyelids and the top of his head. Mihashi attempted to kiss him back in other spots, and soon Kanou was on top of Mihashi and the kiss festival turned into a tickle fight.  
After it was over, and they were lying on their backs, panting, laughing and holding hands, Mihashi suddenly fell silent before asking a question in a serious tone.  
‘Shuu-chan, can I ask you something?’  
‘Mmm?’  
‘What…are we.’

Kanou glanced at him in surprise. Technically, he should have expected such a question under these circumstances, but he never took it into consideration.  
‘I don’t know.’ He responded quickly in a casual manner. ‘I’m not good at this. You’re the only person I’ve really been close to. Everybody else was family, a classmate, or part of a group. I’m not really…good at this.’  
He squeezes Mihashi’s hand gently.  
‘We aren’t dating. I don’t think I’d be good at actually dating anyone. But, from what I know friends rarely do the things we do.’

He looked at Mihashi, who was staring at the ceiling, and thought for a bit before finishing: ‘I think we are just together. We’ve always been together. If that suits you, I think it can stay this way.’  
He knew it probably sounded weird, it was most likely not how things worked, but that’s how it was and that’s what he was okay with and all he wanted.  
His heart was beating fast as he kept staring at Mihashi in anticipation.  
Mihashi looked back at him eventually, and nodded his head, smiling brightly and squeezing his hand afterwards.


End file.
